A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial. But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive.

Storyline

Retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb (Eastwood), who has recently had a heart transplant, is hired by Graciela Rivers (De Jesus), to investigate the death of her sister, Gloria, who happens to have given McCaleb his heart. On the case, he soon deduces that the killer, who staged the murder to look like a random robbery, may actually be a serial killer Terry was trailing for years in the FBI. Can the elderly and feeble McCaleb, who had intended to spend his retirement living on his boat in the Los Angeles harbor, and who can't drive, and has to nap regularly, muster up the endurance to find the killer?Written by
Amir Al-Kourainy <kalkour1@san.rr.com>

Technical Specs

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Did You Know?

Trivia

A behind-the-scenes making-of promotional documentary for this movie was made for television. Entitled Making 'Blood Work' (2002), it is available on the DVD. However, the short doc reveals by use of scene clips the whodunit identity of the film's serial killer. See more »

Goofs

When Dr. Fox is doing her blood work on Terry, an x-ray is used whilst performing the biopsy. Both times, neither she nor anyone around are wearing protective lead garments against radiation exposure, which is a standard practice in any medical establishment. In addition, an endomyocardial biopsy, as it is called, is not preformed in a medical office as shown in the movie. It is performed in a cardiac cath lab, which is effectively, an operating room. All personnel are in scrubs and a sterile field is required. Lead is worn underneath
the surgical gowns. From an outside perspective, it may not be readily apparent that the staff in a cath lab are wearing lead IF they are wearing surgical gowns appropriately. See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

User Reviews

One wonders how sick and old Clint's movie persona will have to become before he finally becomes unable to bed the young babe and shoot it out with the bad guy. Well, not yet, although his mortality is surely front and center in "Blood Work".

As a former FBI profiler, he suffered a heart attack while chasing a serial murder suspect; after a long wait due to his rare blood type he finally got a heart transplant - the catch is he now has the heart of the woman whom that serial killer may have murdered specifically so that McCabe could get the heart. The killer wanted McCabe active as he enjoyed the challenge and the chase. Then, the sister of the murdered woman seeks McCabe's help, and tells him whose heart he has, thus bringing him out of retirement and into the hunt despite his doctor's orders.

All the pieces of the plot fit together rather well, except for the plot hole listed below that to me ruled out a major character as a potential suspect.

Paul Rodriguez is both ridiculous and obnoxious as an Hispanic detective with a bad attitude. I suppose he was there for comic relief, but I never found him funny, not in the film nor anywhere else. Jeff Daniels dusts off his "Dumb and Dumber" schtick as the marina neighbor. Tina Lifford is very effective as a helpful Sherriff's deputy, and so is Wanda De Jesus as the rather angry sister who jumps Clint's bones despite the huge transplant scar - and her own sister's heart beating underneath (or was that a turn-on?).

It is all rather familiar, and basically the same "old" Clint, but nonetheless a very enjoyable movie and a well-written story. For those who say "when will we see a different Clint?", well, we already have in a number of more sensitive films.

PLOT HOLE:

At the ATM early in the film he unknowingly confronts the actual killer - wearing a woman's crucifix earring in his right ear. Unfortunately, there is a close-up of that same ear subsequently (before we know who the killer is), and it is NOT a pierced ear; thus, I ruled him OUT as a suspect. He could not have worn that earring, and don't tell me he used Crazy Glue. This is a plot hole.

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